


What Sort of Cake is Orange?

by Uncannycory



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Baking, Birthday, Birthday Presents, Breakfast, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26918398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncannycory/pseuds/Uncannycory
Summary: It was your birthday. Also Dave’s birthday. You had explicitly told him you really didn’t want to do anything for it; Dave had a whole thing happening at his and Karkat’s place, and honestly the fact that everyone would be there with you and Dave was enough. You didn’t need something for just you, and honestly you weren’t that big on it anyway. You made him promise to not make a big deal out of it, and he agreed.So when you woke up to crashing from downstairs, from the kitchen, you were immediately suspicious.
Relationships: John Egbert/Dirk Strider
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46





	What Sort of Cake is Orange?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vanzgogh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanzgogh/gifts).



John was used to your sleeping schedule, as hectic as it was. It was something you appreciated about him. Even though he was more of an early riser himself, you think it suited you both to have time to yourself; him in the morning before you woke up, and you at the end of the night after he’d gone to bed (or more commonly just fall asleep on the couch in the corner of your workshop watching Parks and Recs again.)

You appreciated that about him, but since you hadn’t been dating all that long, you never really thought he might use it to try and get something past you.

Your birthday. Also Dave’s birthday. You had explicitly told him you really didn’t want to do anything for it; Dave had a whole thing happening at his and Karkat’s place, and honestly the fact that everyone would be there with you and Dave was enough. You didn’t need something for just you, and honestly you weren’t that big on it anyway. You made him promise to not make a big deal out of it, and he agreed.

So when you woke up to crashing from downstairs, from the  _ kitchen _ , you were immediately suspicious. 

It was still early for you, and you took your time pulling yourself out of bed. If he was going to do something stupid when you asked him not to, he would at least make you coffee. Grabbing your shades and hooking them into the front of your shirt, you pulled on the nearest pajama pants near you (John’s, much too large for you but whatever) and made your slow descent down the stairs.

“What the fuck are you making so much noise about this early?” you leaned in the doorway to the small kitchen, squinting at the mess that was made. There was a bag of… carrots? But there were also baking ingredients everywhere, stuff that you recognized from when Jane enlisted your help because according to her “ It’s all just math anyway Strider, you can do it.”

“Oh, Dirk!” he looked wildly embarrassed to see you, dumping the armful of metal bowls he had managed to drop into the kitchen sink. At least there wasn’t flour or mix anywhere on the floor, he probably just managed to knock them out of the weird place he kept them in the cupboard. “ Uhh… nothing! Uh, it’s okay! You can go back to bed, I got everything here!”

“Nah, I’m up now. Make me coffee.” John looked sheepish, but he did. Grabbing the canister of instant, extra caffeinated coffee that he knew you liked and set it to brew. “So, what are you working on then?”

“Uhh, nothing?” he gave you an hopefully awkward half smile, hoping really hard that you would accept that answer. The equally half amused look you gave him back told him no though, and he grabbed down your favorite cup, the one that said “ I have a dig bick” on it. “ Alright, alright, I was uh… making you breakfast sort of.”

“Breakfast. Sort of.” the kitchen filled with the warm aroma of possibly the only drink that could rival your love for orange soda. And as much as it normally would annoy you that John was trying to go against what you asked, it almost seemed too sweet, too domestic and perfect for you to want to ruin.

“Yah, sort of. I was gonna make some carrot cupcakes. You didn’t want me to do anything, but I thought like coffee and homemade carrot cake wouldn’t be against the rules. I mean carrot cake counts as like a breakfast pastry sort of right?” He looked like a kicked puppy, or a mischievous child sincerely guilty for what he did. You hated and loved how it made your heart melt. 

“Right… I guess that’s not too bad. Sounds nice. Never had carrot cake.” And that was all it took to get John to light up again. The coffee pot clicked off and John filled your cup, grabbing the sugar so you could put the obscene amount of sugar you liked in it yourself.

“Really? It’s so good, I think you’ll like it. You know I don’t really like cake much, but it reminds me more of banana bread? So if my dad makes it I’ll eat it sometimes.” after giving you your coffee he happily bounced back to what he was doing, which was apparently grabbing all the ingredients he had hoarded over the last couple weeks so you wouldn’t get suspicious, he really wasn’t the baker after all. “ I got my Dad’s recipe, so it will be really good!”

You took a sip of your cup and felt yourself relax at the wash of caffeine and sugar. Closing your eyes, you let the ambient morning sensations wash over you, the cool morning breeze coming through the windows, the birds, chirping pleasantly, the sound of John baking, humming the Ghostbusters theme song as he went. This was a good start to a birthday, if an early one.

When you finished your cup of coffee you opened your eyes again, watching John as he made an absolute mess with the flour and other dry ingredients. 

“Need some help there?” a smirk and a teasing tone, and John stuck his tongue out at you. You didn’t hear him saying no though so you stood and fetched the other apron from the magnet on the side of the fridge. You had your arms around his waist and your face in his neck before he could protest.

“Fine, fine!” he batted at you a bit before turning to press a kiss into your unstyled hair. You knew he liked it like that. “Grab the carrots and wash and shred them? That’d be super helpful.” 

You mumbled a bit into his neck, earning a giggle as he tried to push you away, you knew it tickled him.

John was not the baker his dad was, but together you got the cupcakes baked and cooled before the appropriate time for breakfast was over. He wanted to wait to ice them, but you were hungry and impatient and managed to snag one for each of you and convince John to make another pot of coffee so you could sit down for breakfast. 

And that ended up being enjoyed on the front porch, sitting pressed up against each other as the slow heat of what would be a hot day began to push back the morning chill. 

“Happy Birthday, Dirk.” An arm snaked around you and when you turned to look at John completely you were treated with a warm and sweet kiss. “ Hope you enjoyed breakfast.”

You just buried your head in his shoulder, cheeks red. Because you did, and despite all you had said to prevent this from happening, it was probably the best thing you could have ever gotten.


End file.
